Artists using photography to map the unknown, and other cartographic impulses from painting oceans to poetic performance honoring Tongva land heritage, volcanoes as both site and metaphor, sculpture evoking the hidden fractal geometry of the world, interrogating tropes of eco-tourism, and science and art in dialog as to manmade climate disaster. Plus literature about the state of the union, theater about dark fascinations, design for how we want to live, gothic futurism, surrealist funkadelia, and a critic’s art historical epiphanies.

Thursday, November 3

Deborah Anderson: The Light of Reverence at Leica Gallery. “To me, the gift of holding a camera brings presence and stillness, the promise of creativity as we step into the unknown,” writes photographer Deborah Anderson. “It keeps us exactly where we are, in that very moment, bringing us closer to what truly matters through compassion and connection. It connects us to something outside of ourselves. My hope is that these images bring us back to nature. We protect that which we love, so we surely need to find a way to fall in love with nature.” 8783 Beverly Blvd., West Hollywood; Opening reception: Thursday, November 3, 6-8pm; On view through January 8; free; leicagalleryla.com.

CIACLA presents The Irish Contemporaries at Building Bridges. The Contemporary Irish Art Center Los Angeles, in partnership with MART Gallery & Studios Dublin, presents The Irish Contemporaries, a group exhibition curated by Ciara Scanlan and Matthew Nevin showcasing contemporary artists living in the island of Ireland and Irish artists abroad in LA. The exhibition includes short films, paintings, mixed media, printmaking, and performance by an eclectic cohort of modern Irish voices. Bergamot Station Art Center, 2525 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica; Opening reception: Thursday, November 3, 6-8pm; On view through November 8; free; ciacla.com.

Skylight Books presents George Saunders in conversation with Judd Apatow at Zipper Hall. Booker Prize winner George Saunders returns with his first collection of short stories since the bestselling Tenth of December. Liberation Day is a masterful new collection that explores ideas of power, ethics, and justice and cuts to the very heart of what it means to live in community with our fellow humans. With his trademark prose — wickedly funny, unsentimental, and exquisitely tuned — Saunders continues to challenge and surprise. Here is a collection of prismatic, resonant stories that encompass joy and despair, oppression and revolution, bizarre fantasy and brutal reality. Colburn School, 200 S. Grand Ave., downtown; Thursday, November 3, 7pm; $33/includes a signed copy of the book; skylightbooks.com.

Friday, November 4

Maps Bleed Like Veins Do: A Performance and Film by Coyote Park at NeueHouse Hollywood. Coyote Park (he/they) is a two-spirit artist from Honolulu, currently living in the Tongva territory known commonly as Los Angeles. Through re-imaginings of folk stories and poetry, their art explores land and body relationships to honor their heritage — from their ancestors in the Redwoods to their family today in the Tongva lands. In collaboration with HIT and LA Pride, NeueHouse presents a two-spirit (trans and Indigenous) remapping of California through self-portraiture, film, and writing. Join Park for a multimedia performance and screening of their experimental short film, My boyfriend Coyote, my girlfriend Bambi. 6121 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood; Friday, November 4, 7pm; free w/ rsvp; rsvp.neuehouse.com/caringfuturescoyotepark. 

Cauleen Smith: My Caldera at Morán Morán. Articulating Smith’s range, this show includes video and sound, textiles, sculptures, works on paper, and site-specific installation devices. The overall effect is an immersive environment that thematically analogizes aspects of volcanoes, as indicated by the show’s title: “caldera” is the word for the depression that results at the apex, post-eruption. Smith uses the volcano as a metaphor to signal crisis, to figuratively express intense emotion, or the planet’s force, but also to consider the regenerative properties of eruptions – how these events create new land, ones without the burden of human history. 641 N. Western Ave., Hollywood; Opening reception: Friday, November 4, 5-8pm; On view through December 22; free; moranmorangallery.com.

Broken Story at the Sherry Theater. Written by Cyndy A. Marion and directed by Tamara Rappart, Broken Story was inspired by the murder of writer Susan Berman and her close relationship with serial killer Robert Durst. The play explores questions of friendship, loyalty, and betrayal juxtaposed against the personal journey of a young journalist whose obsession with getting the story has unexpected consequences. Jess, a driven young New York reporter, arrives in LA and meets those closest to the victim, as everyone becomes a suspect and fantasies collide with the facts as her pursuit of truth takes a dangerous personal turn. 11052 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood; Performances: November 4 - 27; whitehorsetheater.com/broken-story-la.

George Clinton: The Rhythm of Vision at Jeffrey Deitch. An exhibition of paintings and other artworks by the legendary musician, performer, and godfather of funk, George Clinton, will open coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the release of Atomic Dog, Clinton’s #1 record that inspired much of the hip hop music of the 1980s and ‘90s. Clinton’s paintings translate the psychedelic world of his music, costumes and stage sets into visual art. During the past several years, when he was unable to tour because of the pandemic, he entered a new chapter in his visual art, synthesizing sixty years of themes and characters. 7000 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood; Opening reception: Friday, November 4, 5-7pm; On view through December 23; free; deitch.com.

Saturday, November 5

Benjamin Lowder: Splendor and Formation at Philosophical Research Society. Lowder’s sculpture, installation, and objects are a continuation and extension of his Myth, Math & Magic series, equally influenced by the writings of PRS founder Manly P. Hall, as well as by his work with the legacy of philosopher Buckminster Fuller. “On both formal and intellectual levels, Lowder’s process simultaneously explores construction and deconstruction,” says curator David Orr. “He often uses vintage advertising signage as a source to create work that breaks the spell of marketing and points toward the transcendent. In Splendor and Formation he is expanding ideas of language as source and geometry.” 3910 Los Feliz Blvd., Los Feliz; Opening reception: Saturday, November 5, 2-6pm; Artist talk: Tuesday, November 8, 7pm; On view through February 25; free; prs.org.

Rammellzee: Gothic Futurism at Jeffrey Deitch. The immersive world of the polyhedric graffiti writer, visual artist, musician, lyricist, performer, fashion designer, innovator and philosopher Rammellzee lands in Los Angeles. The exhibition surveys his oeuvre from his graffiti beginnings on the A train in the mid-1970s to his fine arts and performance practice developed over the following three decades. A true iconoclast, Rammellzee committed to his thinking and art-making with an approach that was simultaneously programmatic and shamanic. His esoteric manifestos encompassed philology and astrophysics and drew inspiration from contemporary sensibility and medieval history alike. 925 N. Orange Dr., Hollywood; Opening day: Saturday, November 5, 11am-6pm; On view through January 14; free; deitch.com.

Todd Schorr: Rattlebrain Melodrama at KP Projects. Todd Schorr is a giant in the Pop Surrealism movement. Though he shares that group’s interest in Lowbrow culture and post-illustration graphic style, Schorr’s operatically ambitious compositions, rich in precise detail and evocative atmospherics, plus his particular flair for wry insight and social commentary, has set him apart even among the genre’s best-known practitioners. Schorr’s cinematic, fairy-tale carnivalism, satire, and sincere punnery are inspired by Bosch, Brueghel, Dali, the edgier comic books of the 1950’s, and Ed Roth’s designs of the 1960’s, Schorr’s knack for provocative pop content laid onto Old Master technique presents a unique level of innovation in interpreting the world around us. 633 N. La Brea, Hollywood; Opening reception: Saturday, November 5, 7-10pm; free; kpprojects.net. 

Don Ed Hardy & Laurie Steelink: Evidence of Things Unseen, at Track 16. Stemming from the influence of the art history that Hardy immersed himself in and infusing styles and movements from all over the world, he is renowned for greatly expanding the art of modern tattooing. In 1967, although accepted to the Yale MFA program, he ultimately chose to pursue tattooing as he saw great potential for exploration and innovation. Steelink’s work is currently included in the California Biennial at OCMA. Imbued in her art of the last decade is her reconnection with her biological family and cultural roots with the Akimel O’otham tribe in central Arizona. Both considered possibilities of tattooing as an extension of their art practices and in 1997 had the chance to explore it further when Steelink curated Hardy’s first Track 16 exhibition Permanent Curios. Bendix Building, 1206 Maple, downtown; Opening reception: Saturday, November 5, 6-9pm; On view through December 17; free; track16.com. 

Danielle Eubank: Homecoming at EDNA Contemporary. Eubank is an award-winning, international abstract water painter and ocean artist, whose decades-long project has been painting all of the oceans on the planet to raise awareness about the state of the oceans and climate change. A recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, her abstract oil paintings are modern and emotive — and for the past year and a half, they’ve been missing.

Brazenly stolen from a gallery in SLO in May 2021, and just as surprisingly returned in late September of this year, it seems clear that no one will ever know exactly what happened or why; the party who returned them is not who stole them. But the artist and the gallerist were so relieved to see the works again, that they’re throwing the paintings a homecoming party this weekend. As it happens, Eubank’s adventurous alarm-raising about the global oceanic situation has never been more timely. 583 Dana St., San Luis Obispo; Reception: Saturday, November 5, 5pm; free; danielleeubank.com.

Sunday, November 6

Textile Council Sale at the Fowler Museum. This special edition of The Fowler’s beloved annual fundraiser offers a curated selection of global textiles, jewelry, baskets, clothing from Guatemala, India, Japan and so much more. Proceeds from the sale support the Fowler’s textile acquisitions, exhibitions, and publications. And make sure to leave time in your visit to see the museum’s lively roster of gallery exhibitions, including the landmark Tingatinga survey and the soon-to-close The Art of Almighty God. 308 Charles E. Young Dr., Westwood; Sunday, November 6, 11am-4pm; free; fowler.ucla.edu.

Henry Taylor: B Side at MOCA. Surveying 30 years of Taylor’s work in painting, drawing, sculpture, and installation, this retrospective celebrates a Los Angeles artist widely appreciated for his unique aesthetic, social vision, and freewheeling experimentation. Populated by friends and relatives, strangers on the street, athletic stars, politicians and entertainers, Taylor’s canvases describe an imagination encompassing multiple worlds. Informed by experience, his work conveys its fundamental empathy in close looking and sharpened social criticism alike. B Side is the largest exhibition of Taylor’s work to date. 250 S. Grand Ave., downtown; On view November 6 - April 30; free; moca.org.

Ivan Ríos-Fetchko: The Falls at Tyler Park Presents. Ríos-Fetchko’s work meditates on the American landscape and how it acts as a lens through which to look at histories, both national and personal. Painting from found tourist slides, Ríos-Fetchko overlays his own encounters with the American landscape over others’ images, making paintings dense with history. Constructing each image out of tight, rapid, marks, the painting surfaces mimic the repetitive nature of the image-making, as well as the networked relations of the present. 4043 W. Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake; Closing reception: Sunday, November 6, 11am-2pm; free; tylerparkpresents.com. 

Monday, November 7

[POSTPONED. Due to an illness in the family, this event has been postponed. A new date will be scheduled shortly.] Jerry Saltz with Irwin Miller at Live Talks LA (In person & Virtual). In Art Is Life, renowned art critic and Twitter provocateur Jerry Saltz offers a survey of contemporary art as a barometer of our times. Chronicling a period punctuated by dramatic turning points — from the cultural reset of 9/11 to the rolling social crises of today — Saltz traces how visionary artists have both documented and challenged the culture. Art Is Life offers Saltz’s eye-opening appraisals of trailblazers and visionaries; celebrates landmarks; writes searchingly about disturbing events; and shares stories of his own haunted childhood, his time as a “failed artist,” and his art history epiphanies. Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Center, 3200 Motor Ave., Vista del Mar; Monday, November 7, 8pm; Livestream drops November 13; $20-$48; livetalksla.org.

Tuesday, November 8

Pioneer Works: Perspectives on a Changing Earth at MOCA. This panel brings together an artist, an environmentalist, and a physicist for a discussion on the global impact of human-made climate change, and the possibility of building a sustainable and equitable future through culture, activism, and education. Dustin Yellin is an artist who balances a sculptural practice visualizing the catastrophic impact of the anthropocene. David de Rothschild is an ecologist, adventurer, and activist. Theoretical astrophysicist Janna Levin considers life and environments on exoplanets. Together with moderator Adrianne Ramsey, an arts curator and writer, the panel will discuss how education and innovation can unlock solutions to political inertia. 250 S. Grand Ave., downtown; Tuesday, November 8, 6:30pm; free; moca.org. 

Wednesday, November 9

Sight Unseen California Design at Phillips. Through the collaboration, Sight  Unseen will curate a rotating selection of contemporary design pieces for Phillips’ West Hollywood gallery space, to be exhibited alongside the auction house’s consigned works of 20th century and contemporary art, design,  jewelry, and watches. The first installation, includes the works of ten designers from California: Atelier de Troupe, BZIPPY, Casey McCafferty, Christopher Norman, LAUN, Michael  Felix, Nicholas Bijan Pourfard, Objects for Objects, Ryan Belli, and Soft-Geometry. To celebrate, Phillips will also host a book launch for How to Live with Objects, the first book by Sight Unseen founders Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer. 9041 Nemo St., West Hollywood; Book & exhibition launch: Wednesday, November 9, 5:30-8:30pm; free w/ rsvp; phillips.events/phillipslosangelesxsightunseen.


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